Father Blake gets it right!
“It isn’t the priest but Christ who comes to save the world; if he is fortunate on a few occasions in his priesthood, when he doesn’t get in the way, he might be the occasion of Grace, even a great outpouring of God’s Grace.
This is the reason I love the old Rite, why I celebrate Mass facing the same direction as my people, why I think vestments are important, why I prefer hearing Confessions behind a grill, why, if there is a choice between the words of the Church and mine or others, I prefer the Church’s words. This is why I question my practice of preaching at every OF Mass I celebrate.
It is Jesus who brings Salvation, not the priest, bishop or pope. A priest’s spiritual maturity comes when he realises he is an unprofitable servant. . . . Something seems to have gone awry when flawed, sinful human beings are given a place where they can become a barrier rather than a bridge between God and his people. A mature Catholic is one who realises the Church is God’s not ours, and everything depends on him, not us.
The problem comes when we cannot perceive the supernatural and its importance.”
